See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.It is truly incredible how quickly time can pass nearly unnoticed. That is what has happened with the quick takes series. When I looked at my last post, it was from the end of July! Really? Two months seem like merely two weeks. Well, since those two months have seem some extensive activities, let me pick just a few to share, seven actually.
1. One of the most interesting trips I have had in this two-month period was to Nebraska where I met with our branch there. One of our specialists, whom I have sent to Afghanistan for consulting several times now, introduced me to his sister, and we all went to dinner, where the most incredible story of their escape from Afghanistan was shared. If any of you have read the Kite Runner, you would have found many details familiar because of the great similarity between the stories. It is simply unbelievable what people have had to go through in order to escape from Afghanistan over the border to Pakistan and then onward. (Those whose stories I know, of course, went onward to the USA.) Most unbelievable is that the father of my employee went back to Afghanistan when Kardezai came into power to help the new government. He holds a high post; therefore, for his safety I can give no more specific details. All I will say, then, is that there are people who have challenges in this life, and then there are people whose challenges are so extreme as to appear somehow to be beyond life.
For those with an interest in the challenges of living in Afghanistan and leaving Afghanistan, there is a great but haunting movie, called Kandahar. The movie is about a Canadian-Afghani woman who is trying to reach Kandahar to help her sister, who is severely depressed by the events taking place there. I don't want to give away the ending, so I will say no more than that it is worth watching, very information (a semi-documentary), but with a heart-rending ending.
2. In August, I tripped to Washington, DC, for two different business events. While I cannot go into details of either business event, since both events were closely associated with US government affairs, I can say that one meeting took place at the Pentagon. For some reason, the general who was leading to the meeting decided that he liked me, and after the meeting, he asked me, "Do you want to see a really cool room?" Well, who could say no to that? The room he showed me is one that appears in movies from time to time (in which the directors guess at what it might look like). The directors have portrayed it in such interesting ways that now the Pentagon has hired one of them to redesign the room in keeping with the movies! (Life is stranger than fiction sometimes.)
3. The very next week, I ran back eastward almost to the same location: Baltimore, Maryland. There we had a meeting of all our branch managers. The last time we all met (we do this twice a year) was in Hawaii. At that time, there was an earthquake in Japan that, as you probably all recall, resulted in a tsunami there and in Hawaii. If you remember the third week of August in the Washington-Baltimore area, you will probably recall that on Tuesday there was a historic earthquake that caused both damage to building and concern to individuals. (In California, earthquakes are business as usual, but not so on the East Coast.) Then, at the end of that week, Hurricane Irene arrived. We all wondered how much of this was really only coincidence -- where we all meet, the earth unsettles itself. Hm...our next meeting is to take place in Texas in the spring. Flash floods or tornado? I wonder which it will be!
4. A really unique thing happened in early September. Donnie and I took our first vacation in years and years. We decided to visit my relatives in Maine. Unfortunately, my brother, Keith, with whom we had planned to stay, was sent by his employer on business to California (not far from where we live) the very same week! We ended up staying at St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, a truly inspirational place, in Kennebunkport, Maine, not far from all my relatives. While there, we took the cog railway to the top of Mount Washington in NH, home to the world's worst weather (a mild day when we were there: winds at 83 mph, 28 degrees, moderate sleet, and covered in clouds -- of course, it was only the beginning of fall; there is plenty of time for the weather to grow its normal worse). On a different day, we took the sunset cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee with a friend from my high school graduating class. Of course, we also got to to visit scads of relatives, eat a wicked amount of lobster (including lobster rolls, lobster pizza), and spend hours with a "lost" GPS in the backwoods. I also enjoyed the early morning Masses each day before we set out for one or another point. Ironically, we never made it to the beach even though we were walking distance away! Go figure!
5. On the way home, we spent a day in Boston. (We flew into and out of Logan Airport there.) En route to Boston, we stopped in Boxford and had lunch with another high school chum, who had married and moved to that area. It was great fun, catching up on a couple score of missed years. Then, in Boston, we picked up our older daughter, Lizzie, in town from South Carolina for a conference and met a common friend from Colombia for dinner at the harbor. We stayed just a couple of miles away from the restaurant, but our GPS took us on a two-hour (!! no exaggeration !!) drive to get there. Fortunately, we had left significantly early, but we arrived significantly late. Our friend explained to us why a GPS works so poorly in Boston: all the underground roads really confuse it because it keeps losing the satellite signal. All is well that ends well. We got back to Lizzie's hotel and our hotel easily by turning off the GPS and using our friend's written directions.
6. I no sooner got back home than I had to take off for Madrid, Spain, where I had some business to take care of. one of my employees (a Spanish speaker, yes!) came with me, as did the director of another division. We met with counterparts in Toledo (and learned the supposed origin of the expression, holy Toledo), an immensely beautiful city that looks today much like it was portrayed by El Greco. We also met counterparts in Alcala, childhood home of Cervantes, creator of Don Quixote. And, of course, we did spend some time in Madrid, where, on a positive note, I was able to attend daily Mass and experience some of the local Spanish dialect, and where, on a negative note, my credit cards were compromised and had to be replaced. (I won't go into that story; it was rather annoying.)
7. I just got back and, surprisingly, was fortunate enough to be able to get today off from work. (I have a lot of annual leave that I have to use before the end of the year, so I am looking forward to some more leave some time this month, work permitting.) It being First Friday, I spent the day at our local St. Francis Retreat Center, where Fr. Philip did a beautiful lecture, Mass, and contemplative session and where I got to spend time with friends who regularly attend First Friday. So, while the week has been hectic, the ending was calm and peaceful. A great way to start the weekend.I wish you a pleasant weekend, as well!
I am very, very happy to be back home from Madrid. While I had good job-related accomplishments there and enjoyed seeing three different cities -- Madrid, Toleda, and Alcala, stolen credit card numbers (not sure from which merchant because that information is held confidential) plagued me. Fortunately, Master Card International was on top of it all, and only one of the numbers had been used; that was a purchase that the card company declined because they had the card being used in Texas and Madrid on the same day! Smart card company -- although they thought Madrid was the fraudulent use when it really was Texas. 
